With three little boys to manage, one who was having difficulties learning to read, I felt a lot of pressure to get everything done. We struggled to make it across the end-of-year finish line. I was looking forward to a well-earned summer vacation.

But a curious thing happened. I discovered that without school to keep us focused and on task, the household seemed to fall apart a little bit. I was equally surprised to discover that my little boys seemed to hate the lack of structure.

That was the year I realized that I could homeschool in the summer. In fact, homeschooling in the summertime seemed to be a better fit for my family. Three more children joined the family, and I determined that I was less and less stressed about getting everything done, because I knew that we could catch up in June, July and August. While my friends seemed to be frantic that they weren't done with their curriculum in April and May, I wasn't panicking at all - because my school was in session all year round!

Each year has been a little different. This year I only have one student - a middle schooler going into 7th grade. She got all of her subjects done including math, so we are spending the summer doing a lot of reading and some field trips, running every morning and keeping up her piano practice.

Then of course with my 3 year old granddaughter, there are always crafts to do for her.
But here is a list of things that I observed on my homeschool adventure during the summer months.

1. Good habits built up in the school year can easily go kaput during the lazy hazy days of summer! Why should we lose all that hard-earned ground!? Year round homeschooling helped to turn those good habits into a way of life.

2. Use it or lose it... and some kids do lose a lot over the summertime! I remember that in particular I felt that I had to regain some of my hard won math skills after letting then languish over the summer. Summertime homeschooling keeps those math, reading, writing and spelling skills sharp. With my daughter, we will probably start her math book the end of July and just do a couple of lessons a week.

3. Reading new and different books might be a good thing to try over the summertime. Try some new titles or authors. I'm basing our reading off of the Bravewriter Arrow selections.

4. Two words - field trips. Summertime is a great time to work some social studies, geography, history and science into the curriculum in real life!

I especially want to concentrate on Ohio History this year, so I hope to make some special field trips to sites around the state.
5. Summertime homeschooling need not be all drudgery! Learn how to make a pie or sew, paint a room, basic car repairs... all of that is educational and counts as homeschooling.

6. Summertime homeschooling is a great way to pull ahead academically. This can be especially important for high school students who want to CLEP some subjects they studied during the school year and earn some college credit too.

7. It's a great time to play catch up too. I never felt pressured to be done when everyone else was, because I used the summer months to finish those text books and other projects we were too busy to do during the school year.

My family has done both!!

8. Summertime homeschooling keeps the family from getting too scattered from each other. And now that I have a son 8 hours away, I truly cherish the hours he got to spend with his siblings in the summer.

9. No law says you can't include the neighbor kids! In fact sometimes the neighbor kids enjoy the read alouds or other homeschooling activities and my kids enjoy having their friends see what their school day is like.

10. Having something to do keeps mom from hearing "I'm bored!" too many times in a day!

10. Dig deeper. So you studied the French Revolution and one of your kids is now fascinated with Marie Antoinette! Now is the time to really dig into her biography and follow all of those rabbit holes that you had to skip over due to time constraints during the school year.

11. Mess. As in, take the messy art project outside. Water colors, chalk, to clay - all if it seems a lot less intimidating outside where everything can get hosed done when we're done.

12. Science is more fun in the summertime! From planting and growing, to astronomy or simple tools. All of it just seems to lend itself to the long warm days (and nights) of summer.

13. Homeschooling in the summer gives mom some structure too!

14. We do movie day all during the school year, but we can REALLY ramp it up during the summer and have movie night to include dad and even the neighbor kids. It's a great time to introduce them to films and stories they might not have chosen for themselves and to get some discussions going.

I'm including Netflix in this.

15. For older kids, summertime might be a great time to introduce them to test preparation, how to take tests and test strategies. This is especially important for high schoolers who may not be use to taking a lot of standardized tests.

16. In the laid back summertime it's a little easier to practice those foreign languages the kids have studied all year. Take one day aside and have Spanish day or Latin day, or just use your American Sign language!

17. Summertime is a great time to try out new Curricula. If Saxon math doesn't work for one student, maybe trying Seton or Modern Curriculum Press would work better. Try it and see! Last year we gave Switched on Schoolhouse a try. It wasn't a good fit for us, so I knew I didn't need to purchase more curricula for the school year.

18. Summer camps and lessons definitely count as homeschooling. Take pictures and make sure to document!

19. Memorial Day, Flag Day, Fourth of July... all great times to set a day aside and talk about our country's history and heritage.

20. Time to look at the family's spiritual life and make adjustments. Older kids might be ready to add more bible study time. Maybe the youngest has never heard of Noah and the Arc and doesn't know how to say the rosary by herself yet. Summertime is a great time to evaluate everyone's spiritual needs.

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It seems that one of the biggest events in confirmation preparation in this country is the letters of support to be given to the confirmation candidates during their mandatory retreats.

I have three such letters saved on this blog:

Confirmation letter to my daughterConfirmation letter to my fourth sonConfirmation letter to to my third son
I've asked my children what they remember about the letter they got from me and their dad, and also what they remembered about the letters they received.
The answer was not much, or at least nothing specific. In general they were happy to have gotten a bag full of letters and there was a sense of feeling loved and supported. I guess that's the main thing - for them to have a sense that this is an important step in their spiritual growth, and that people they know, love and respect have taken the time out of their lives to let them know that!
So here are some tips on procuring and writing letters for young confirmation candidates. Start thinkin…

March 5 and 6, 2010
My Dearest Gabe;
I can’t express to you enough what a wonderful gift you have been to your father and me from the very moment you were born. You have always been such a beautiful, good natured, fun loving and enjoyable baby, little boy and now young man. I am so proud of you and so honored to be your mother.

You know Gabe, you have always been a big guy. When I was pregnant with you the midwife was always amazed at how big you were getting inside of my stomach. And when you came out (with much effort!) you were as big as some 3 month olds! You have stayed ahead of the curve in size for kids your age. I think it is because God has given you a big heart. You are so full of love and joy you needed a big heart to keep it all in and a big body to hold it all. You are my gentle giant.

I know God has a special plan for you and I look forward to helping you figure out what that might be. Always hang on to the memory of these times, remember all that your father and I…

In a few weeks you will be confirmed as a full member of the Catholic Church. Congratulations! I know that you have really worked hard to understand and learn as much about your Catholic faith as you could before receiving this sacrament.
On your retreat there are a few things your Dad and I would like you to remember -

You were our fourth son in a row but you have always been a unique little boy. I love your bright blue eyes, all of those freckles and dimples. I guess God really wanted you to tap into your Celtic Heritage!

I love how you are always ready with a quick smile for everyone.

I loved how even when you were a baby you would cry when a baby on t.v. was crying, or if a kid outside was crying or basically when you saw anyone crying - you didn't even have to know why - you just did. That's great empathy and you still have that today. Don't lose that. It's a great gift to be able to relate to people even when they are at their lowest.15 R…

This is from a discussion I participated on over at the now defunct Birth Control and Catholic Church Forum aka the boardIlovetocommenton. This was a very pro-contraception, dissident Catholic discussion board. I originally posted this on January 21, 2004. Their points initalics, and my responses are highlighted.

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One key point we keep making on the discussions is about how and why the sex act is actually used by married couples, and in this sense, there is absolutely no difference between NFP and ABC in the acts couples make use of (assuming they're using NFP to avoid conception). I would disagree. The is a key element in the practicing Catholic couple's use of NFP in the marital act, is their respectful understanding and acceptance of the teaching of the Catholic Church as well as their submission to that in obedience to Christ's teaching. This is something that is fundamentally missing from the marital act with artificial contraception.

I cannot believe that you are old enough to make your confirmation!! The time has flown by for me! When I was growing up, I always wondered what my own daughter would be like. And I was sure that I would have a daughter because I was the oldest daughter, of the oldest daughter, of the oldest daughter!

But after having your four brothers in a row, even I was beginning to have my doubts! But God had you in the plan after all!

I was amazed when you were born - at your beauty and femininity -at just at how lucky we were to have you!

You were a special surprise too because you came only 15 months after your brother Noah! But as hard as it was having two babies at the same time, I love how close you two have always been, and grateful that you would always have each other to love and count on.

Of course you know you were named for your grandpa Isadore - whom I sure you would have loved very much. In some ways you are very much like him - quietly keeping things to …

God's Not Dead is an uplifting and enjoyable Christian-based movie appropriate for students from elementary school through college and their parents. We went with two of my teenage children and my 8-year-old daughter and we all enjoyed the movie and have had many discussions about it since.

We enjoyed it as a family, but I would also recommend this movie for church youth groups and homeschooling groups. I hope to buy the DVD when it comes out to donate it to our parish.

The premise of the movie involves a freshman philosophy student's challenge to defend the existence of God to his adversarial and intimidating philosophy teacher and his classmates. The stories of other characters (a preacher, a selfish business man, a young woman caring for her mother with dementia, a successful blogger who faces a devastating diagnosis, and a Muslim convert to Christianity) are woven into the plot line until they are…